Unhealthy relationships and denial worsen Mental Health issues

Mental Health is a huge issue that affects a lot of people around the world. In many cases, those who are affected are the only ones that know about it, it is often due to unhealthy relationships and denying that something is wrong.

This needs to change. With the help of YouTubers, celebrities and many different influencers that have spoken of their battles with mental health, the world is becoming less ignorant. Yet, it is still something that millions of people are ashamed to speak about.

Ahead of Mental Health week that is on from 8th to 14th May, I have travelled to Manchester to speak to a young woman, Natalie Doggett, her mental health story is probably not miles different to the next person’s, but everyone needs to be heard. Everyone needs a voice and by speaking to Natalie I felt that I was doing a favour to everyone else that suffers with mental health, perhaps hearing Natalie will enable others to talk out loud about their experiences. After all, she’s just like you and me.

Natalie is now much happier and has learnt how to control her anxiety and depression.

When sitting down with Natalie she recalls saying, “I lost myself and who I was, I kept a lot of it to myself (depression and anxiety) because I didn’t understand what it was.”

It couldn’t have been easy for her to revisit the darkest times of her childhood/ early adulthood but I felt I had to keep on pushing. As we spoke she soon seemed to relax and her sentences left her mouth more freely, I still couldn’t ignore her trembling hands and wondering gaze.

Natalie says her anxiety and depression started due to her toxic relationship with her first boyfriend.

“I thought the way I was feeling was normal, because of the relationship I was in I was used to feeling like that.”

The feeling of denial and saying that everything is okay when in fact it is not is common with people suffering with Mental Health. They feel like it isn’t an illness therefore it shouldn’t be addressed. We need to try hard to break this stereotype that mental health is all to do with the mind when it can hurt just as much as a physical illness, the only difference is only you know about it.

When the interview was over and the camera stopped rolling she was still deep in thought I can imagine her mind racing remembering all those dark times, I can’t help but think that speaking to me helped her. I’d like to think of it as a friendly chat, someone she opened up to. An interview sounds too formal.

Just as Natalie said, to anyone battling depression, anxiety or any other form of mental health. “Don’t give up.”